Switch
by The Sage of Spirits
Summary: When Yuan finds a way to weaken Origin's Seal through a mysterious substance, he takes it. Too bad for him he doesn't realize the mess he made from it...
1. Prologue: Change of Age

_**The Sage of Spirits:**__ Hah! I lose one only to gain one. And before anyone goes off on me, yes, I have permission for something like this by Freaky herself, and yes, it was inspired by __Growth Spurt__, but it will be different from it. You'll see. I haven't lied yet, have I?  
__**Genis:**__ Huh?  
__**Me:**__ It's a FE fic I was doing, so you'd have no idea. Just say the disclaimer.  
__**Genis:**__ Sage owns nothing._

**Switch**

**Prologue: Change of Age**

It was eerily silent in the halls of Welgaia's library, he thought. The noiseless room sounded deafening in his mighty ears, as if his breath would give away his secret location.

As he floated silently and swiftly to the bookshelf and back, he slowly grabbed books to read for useful knowledge. After all, all of his books back at the base did come from Welgaia. Anything that he thought held an advantage for him (especially if it gave someone else the disadvantage of losing it) he took, placing it on his personal shelf.

The book he now had tucked underneath his arm was one of those books. With a satisfied smirk, he warped off, making sure that he left nary a trace that he had even been there.

Yuan arrived in front of his Triet Base, hoping that no one followed him. He waltzed in with utmost care, just in case. When he felt that he was in the clear, he slowed his pace, his tense muscles slowly relaxing. He reached his office and took a seat, placing the book onto his desk. "This book will be a key measure in my plans, but at the price of…" he said, placing his hand onto his forehead. "It will only cause pain, but it's for the good of the world." The man tried to assure himself; he opened the book, looking for the ingredients needed to create a forbidden substance…

_(--The Chosen's Group…--)_

Lloyd sat on a log near the camp, a forlorn expression evident on his face. They were in front of the Garracchia Forest, resting before attempting to cross its dark chambers. That forest gave off an eeriness that he could not describe, and the effects emitting from that place had a subtle impact on the surrounding area – semi-strange plants grew just outside of the dense woodlands. He had managed to take a look inside, and found that the crowding trees' leaves acted as a thick canopy, blocking almost any sunlight from ever entering.

He looked over at the half-elven woman, wincing at the fact she was fixing lunch for the group. Genis would have fixed lunch that day, but he was so exhausted that he went to sleep, unconsciously and accidentally giving Raine the go ahead to prepare the lunch in his place.

In fact, everyone save him, Raine and Presea were all asleep. He figured that all of that walking must have gotten to them. But turning his attention back to his teacher, he could not help but wonder if the Quiche she was making was actually edible or not.

He was still weary with the pink-haired girl – he knew it had something to do with her exsphere, but he did not know what. All they knew was that she was an experiment; he looked – or rather, tried to look – at the stone, and tried to compare it to his own, though found that it was utterly pointless; his own exsphere was just as complex.

Though worried about the girl, his thoughts were turned onto his own problem; he still remembered his conversation the night before with the half-elf teacher…

_(--The Night Before…--)_

_Lloyd lay on his bed, wide awake; he found that he could not sleep, his mind always returning to memories of old when he dreamt. Raine sighed from her spot (as it was her time for night watch), shaking her head in annoyance. "Lloyd, you're still having problems? If this continues, you may not live to see the next day." she chided._

_The teen sat up, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "But Professor…"_

"_Lloyd, it's been almost two weeks since that… man betrayed us! You have to get over it!" She shouted as loudly as she could without waking the other members of the group._

"_I can't!" he yelled at the woman, offended. "I can't get myself… to forget the time… we had…" he said, lowering his head. "I know I shouldn't let it affect me, but…" he said, hurt; his eyes glazed over._

"_Lloyd, you have to put it behind you, or else you will never be able to focus on what's ahead." she deduced, entering a thinking position. "However, the only way for you to overcome it is to confront the one who caused the pain." she sighed, placing the hand onto her hand. "And I don't want you to do this, but we need to have you conquer your doubts…"_

"_Is the only way to… talk to Kratos?" he asked, looking discomforted._

_Raine sighed. "As the theory goes. If it's not to the one who caused the problem, the problem remains." She stated. "I don't know if you should talk to him though. Suppose he tries to get you to join him? We can't have something like that happen." she said, almost stuttering. "We… We can't lose you, Lloyd."_

"_Professor…" he replied, widening his eyes in shock; he then narrowed his eyes in slight anger. "Professor, there's no way I'd join Cruxis, not after what Kratos did and seeing the jerk he serves. If I need to tell him how I feel in order to move on, even if he won't listen, I'll do it." he said, clutching his hand into a shaking fist. He stared at it for what felt like half-an-hour, though it was only a few moments._

"_Nervous?" she asked, watching him in concern. Her eyes hid the true feeling inside her; she could not show favoritism to her most precious pupil…_

"_Yeah." he replied, nodding his head. "Don't worry Professor – if it seems like he's trying to get me, I'll end it and make a break for it, okay?"_

_Raine sighed for what seemed like the tenth time in their entire conversation. "Lloyd, are you willing to take the risk? The choice is up to you – I won't stop you, even though I'll worry about you." she said, a concerned look on her face._

"_Even though it's risky, I have to do it – like you said, I can't focus on anything. I'm sorry, Professor." he responded, lowering his head._

_However, he felt hands placed on his shoulders; looking up, he saw the reassuring smile on Raine's face. "I trust you, Lloyd." she said, planting a motherly kiss onto his forehead. "I trust you will know what to do. Just be careful, alright?"_

_He chuckled light-heartedly, a smile planted on his face. "Thanks, Professor. Don't worry, I'll be alert around him."_

_(--Now…--)_

_I hope this works…_ he thought, burying his face into his hands. Upon lifting his head, he spotted something white in the distance and gasped. _Is that…? I gotta check it out to see if it's…_ he continued, looking at the half-elf woman. _I don't want to leave the Professor alone with Presea but…_ he decided, getting onto his feet; he chased after the white blob he saw, unknown of the gasp that escaped from Raine's mouth.

_Good luck, Lloyd…_ she thought, closing her eyes for a brief moment. She silently returned to her duties of making lunch…

_I know I saw him now… But where is he? _Lloyd thought, feeling everything in his mind racing around rapidly. Looking up, he gasped at finding the man, who was now preparing to leave. "Kratos!" he shouted, hoping to get the man's attention.

Kratos flinched, obviously startled at being seen. He tried to ignore the calling teen; he almost succeeded, had not for Lloyd placing his hand on his shoulder. "What do you want, Lloyd?" he sighed in defeat. They were now standing in a plain, several pockets of woodlands all around. Turning to face the boy, he tried to keep his cool.

"I need to get something out." he began, his voice shaking; he knew he had to get out now, if he was ever to feel better. "I haven't been able to focus on anything and I need to 'confront the problem.'"

Kratos tried to keep himself as calm as possible. "I have noticed that your focus has deteriorated. I thought I taught you better." he stated coldly, his voice stern. "Seems I did not do enough."

The boy physically flinched, an inaudible sound escaping his lips. "I-It's because of you, you know!" he said, turning his head away from the man. Kratos would have physically shown his sorrow - were he not himself, but he found that he was fine for now. "I guess… I haven't come to my senses about you – I'm still thinking of the 'you' I call 'teacher.' That's why I can't-"

"You're letting your old feelings get in the way. I thought you were better than that to let something so trivial get to you." he chided, ignoring the extremely injured expression on the boy's face; the boy's eyes were welling up from the emotional blow. _I… I went too far… I suppose this is only proper punishment for everything I've done to him…_

"You… You've changed!" Lloyd shouted angrily, his hands just inches from his swords; his eyes were narrowed in absolute fury. "You were patient, understanding, open… You were my teacher. You weren't like this – you changed! Why did you have to change?!" he shouted, taking a step forward.

Kratos sensed the oncoming blow and grabbed the boy's arm, forcing Lloyd to have to wrestle his arm free. "Lloyd, get a hold of yourself." The man said with a sigh, using his free hand to grab the feisty teen's other arm.

"Shut up! Let me go!" he yelled again, his voice revealing the pain he suffered through. "You opened up to me, trained with me, told me stories, and it turns out that everything was a lie! A big stupid lie!" he continued to struggle. "I told you so much about me… What were you going to do with it, blackmail me?!"

Kratos' eyes widened in mild shock, gaping slightly. "No!" he shouted, watching as Lloyd copied his current expression; Kratos, discovering his blunder, recovered his normally stoic expression. "No. I was merely observing you – worried about you."

"Liar!" Lloyd shouted again, trying to break himself free, to no avail.

"Lloyd, calm down!" the man shouted in a stern voice. Lloyd looked at him with watery eyes, eventually collapsing onto the ground, unknowingly onto the angel's chest.

"Why?! Why did you have to leave me?! Why did you have to betray us?! You were my teacher! My master! You… you were like… family…" the teen responded in mild despair, tears flowing down his cheeks.

Kratos felt numb; the feeling he got when he first held Lloyd as a baby – an innocent infant, who was so attached to him when the man first held him. Silently, he cradled the teen in his arms, slowly rocking him gently. "Quiet down." he shushed, mentally sighing at his current predicament…

_(--Yuan…--)_

The blue-haired man smiled in slight pride, having created the mysterious substance, Skrolvnaw, for his purposes. Now all he needed was for Botta to bring him that handheld launcher, and he could finally carry out with his plans. _Where is that blasted subordinate of mine?_ he shouted in his head, unknowingly tapping his foot against his desk's wooden leg. He would love to test this mystical substance out, but he only had enough for one shot – he could not fail his goal.

"Botta!" he shouted in annoyance; almost instantaneously, the man entered the vicinity, the launcher in his hand. "Ah, finally! You have taken your good old time, I see." he joked, raising his eyebrow; Botta was not amused. "Oh come now! I was merely having fun – this will be a glorious moment once we shoot this substance at Kratos, and then we can finally capture him." Yuan took the machine, inspecting it. "This is the launcher that has the scope, yes?" he asked the man.

"Yes sir. I made sure of it." the sub-commander responded with a salute.

"Excellent. We can't have Kratos finding out what I'm going to do." he said, a concerned expression on his face. "I hate to do this to him, but it's the only way we can do it right now…" the Renegade leader sighed with slight resolution; he stood up from his seat, placing the skrolvnaw into the launcher. "Alright, Botta, I'm off." he said, heading for the front door.

_Okay, according to this, he should be over there… Let me stop here and see if I can scope him…_ the man thought, pulling out the machine from his wingpack. Pulling out the scope, he looked through it; he found the man on the ground, although he also noted a pair of red arms wrapped around him. _Those sleeves… Why is Lloyd hugging him? He doesn't know already does he?! I'm too far away to hear, and I can only see them using the scope… _he mentally growled, placing the launcher onto his shoulders.

Looking around so that no obstacles were in the way, he then scoped for the man's back, locking on to him. _Okay Yuan, make this shot count…_ he said, pulling the trigger. _Alright – now I have to hurry off before he sees me. I'll have to go after him later, or else I'll compromise my mission…_ he sighed, flying back to his base…

_(--Kratos and Lloyd…--)_

Lloyd released the man from his hug, sniffling lightly. Kratos placed his arms onto his son's, a tiny smile on his face. "Feel any better?"

Lloyd gasped lightly, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "Actually, yeah, I do. This is exactly what the Professor wanted me to do. I feel so much better now." he sighed contently. "Thanks for hearing me out." he blushed lightly, as if he was in a rather awkward situation.

"I'm sorry." The man replied, turning his head away. "I tried not to get close to you – knowing of my position, but I could not help it. I actually did enjoy the time we shared. I wish we could have spent more time but…" he said, lowering his head.

"You… You haven't changed after all…" Lloyd stuttered quietly to himself; he began to chuckle weakly, startling the man. "You're still the same…" Kratos simply smiled softly. "Why do you have to be with Cruxis? Why can't you come with us?"

"I still have things I have to do. That's all I can tell you. I'm sorry." He responded, watching the teen sigh to himself. Kratos gasped lightly, exposing his wings; plucking a solitary feather, he handed it to the boy. "But if you like, we could try to get back to training sessions again…" Kratos said, a blush barely visible on his face; he had a slightly bad feeling about it though, knowing he might provide Yggdrasil with an opening. But if it made his son happy, it's the least he could do – he did owe it to him.

Lloyd began to beam happily and hugged the man. "That would be great, but how would we do it? We are on opposite sides…" he said, lowering his head.

"We could do it at night. Whenever you have night watch, give me a call using that feather." he said; he could not help but smile, as the teen was hugging him with joy again. "Now you should get going…"

But suddenly, Kratos felt something hit him from behind, causing his back to arch; he felt pain being sent through his spine, his head banging heavily. Wincing, he looked down at the teen; he was going through the same pain as he, it seemed. Just then, a green aura surrounded them both. Instantly, Kratos grabbed the boy and flew into the forest – although unsteadily, as he was still in pain, just as he felt something happening.

After Kratos slowly managed to get Lloyd onto the ground, he began to wheeze. Turning onto his chest, Lloyd began to unbutton his jacket. _Can't… Breathe…! What's… going on…?!_ he thought, finally unbuttoning his jacket; throwing it to the side, he felt that feeling again, now on his shoulders. Touching his shoulders, he felt his suspenders, and slowly (as a sharp pain had just run down his back) pushed them off.

Several moments later, the pain stopped. Lloyd slowly got onto his knees. Something felt different – something was not right. Turning his head to Kratos, he gasped at the sight – he looked a lot younger; if he did not know better, he looked almost exactly like him! But turning back to him, he somehow got the idea to pull out one of his swords. He slowly unsheathed it – as he had a bad feeling about the whole thing – and closed his eyes, putting it in front of his face. He opened his eyes, and screamed.

He suddenly placed his hand on his mouth; his voice was deeper and more masculine than before, and his face had also matured. Raising his hand, he found that his hair had gotten longer. In his shock, he dropped his sword. He then looked at himself and covered his mouth again, his eyes wide as saucers. He somehow had gotten taller, and his muscles appeared to be almost completely developed – not as big as Kratos' was, but pretty darn close to it, he thought.

He even started to blush, as his black undershirt showed off his new muscular chest. _What happened to us? _he thought, strangely in his normal voice. He hurried over to Kratos, whose current outfit was several sizes too large. Taking a closer look at the man-turned-teen, he gasped; Kratos had brown hair?! "Kratos, are you alright?!" he asked, wincing at his deep voice.

"Yes, I'm fine." he replied; looking at himself, he gasped lightly; one could tell he was trying to remain calm. "Alright, so I'm me and you're you, and seeing how I'm still in my clothes and vice versa, it doesn't appear that we switched bodies…" he said in a voice similar to Lloyd's previous voice, stunning the boy-turned-man. "What's with your face?"

"What do you mean?! You look like me, you sound like me, it's like you are me but you aren't!" he shouted frantically, placing his hands onto his head. "Why do you look like me?!"

"Calm down, Lloyd." Kratos replied with narrowed eyes, frightening the man. "This is how I looked… when I was seventeen…" he thought, rubbing his chin in thought. "That's why I took an interest in you – you reminded me of me. Anyway, since we did not switch bodies, I would have to say that the next guess would be that we switched ages, since you now look like me."

Lloyd paled slightly. Grabbing his sword again, he glanced at his hair; while he still saw spots of brown, it was also mixed in with an auburn shade, creating a light auburn color. "How did this happen? I can't return to camp like this! They'll think I'm you!"

Kratos rubbed his chin in thought, looking at the teen's discarded jacket; a heavy sigh escaped his lips. "It seems that we have no other choice. Take off the rest of your clothes." he said with a straight face.

Lloyd gaped with such intensity that his face was entirely red. "What?! You aren't serious, are you?!"

"Lloyd, I'm being serious here." Kratos exasperated, face-palming into his small hands. "Until we can figure out what happened to us, the only way no one can find out about this is for us to pretend to be the other." he stated as he climbed his way out of his uniform.

"But I don't want to be you! I want to be me!" Lloyd shouted in response, receiving a smack from Kratos. "Hey, why'd you have to hit me for?!"

"Because you are acting foolish. We cannot figure out what happened if we stay here. We need to act like each other if we are to fool anyone." The newly de-aged teen said. "I don't like it either, but you don't see me complaining. Now take off what you have on now and put on my clothes."

"Ugh, this is seriously messed up…" Lloyd sighed, removing his black undertop; he gasped at the newly-formed muscles, which were more defined than he originally thought. After finishing with removing his old clothes, he slowly worked his way into Kratos' "Judgment Outfit," shuddering at the thought of having to wear a Cruxis uniform for an undetermined amount of time.

Kratos sighed at the red dwarven outfit he had to wear as he adjusted the jacket, making sure the buttons were in the correct order. He then slipped the overalls over his new jacket, completing his apparel. The two men had to chuckle at the other, finding how ridiculous they looked. But the teen began to frown. "We need to make two more switches, I'm afraid." He said, noticing the confused look of the man.

"What are those?"

"Our weapons… and our exspheres…" he said, noting the widened eyes of the man.

"What?! Then how am I going to fight?! And I just can't give you my mom's memento just because we're pretending to be each other!" he shouted in protest, ignoring Kratos' childishly funny glare.

"Because it will give us away, that's why! And you'll be using my weapons and my exsphere so yours does not get stolen while within Cruxis!" Kratos chided at the teen-turned-man as he handed over his sword and shield. "Besides, you now have the time to learn a new style. Now give me your swords and your exsphere."

Lloyd only grumbled as he handed over his twin swords, strapping on the single double-edged sword onto his waist so that his right hand could easily grab the sword. When Kratos held out his hand for the exsphere, Lloyd held his hands together.

"Lloyd, if it will make it better to you, I will swear on my life that I will keep it safe for you. I promise." he said to the now-man Lloyd, who only grumbled some more. "Lloyd, do you trust me or not?"

"Alright! Here!" he shouted, removing the exsphere from his left hand, placing Kratos' Cruxis Crystal in its place. A large forlorn expression on his face, as if tears would come crashing down.

"Now that we're set…"

"Wait." Lloyd interjected quickly. "What about our hair? And how am I supposed to get to wherever you normally are anyway? I don't have wings or know that teleport-thing you do."

"Excellent observation." Kratos complimented, pulling out an apple gel. "I'll use this as a way to have my hair stick up, and you'll have to wait for you wings to grow before I can teach you to teleport." he told the man, who gasped loudly.

"You mean I have to wait for who knows how long?! What do I do until then?!" he shouted again.

"Lloyd, you have my Cruxis Crystal. And not only that-" Kratos stopped himself, not wanting to reveal anymore. "Never mind. It may have a faster affect on you. That's all." he said, walking out of the forest. "Now all I have to do is head back to your camp while you wait to receive your angelic powers. Then you'll come by your friend's camp at night and I'll teach you to warp so you can head to Welgaia."

"Alright… But what should I do until then?" Lloyd asked, placing his hand onto his chin.

"Well, luckily for you, I'm not technically due back for quite some time, since I was the one who handled the Chosen's Journey. It would be something similar to a long vacation." Kratos stated, closing his eyes. "So do whatever you wish – you can watch me act like you and see how I do from a distance, as long as you don't get caught."

"Oh, you mean like our minor vacation between school terms?" he replied, receiving a light chuckle from the teen impersonator. "What, that's the only way I'm able to think about it."

"I'm not surprised, Lloyd." Kratos chuckled. "Now I'd better get moving." he said, leaving the forest; almost immediately, he came back into the woodland. "By the way, where is your camp again?"

Lloyd started laughing, a smile on his face. "It's that way – if you can smell, you can sniff your way back with the Professor's cooking." he replied, ignoring the disturbed look on Kratos' face at being forced to eat that woman's cooking again. "Good luck with her – she'll ask how you feel after talking to 'me.,' by the way." he joked, watching as Kratos left.

After walking for some time, he found the group sitting around the fire, eating; they all turned and looked at him, every one of them with a slight stare. _And so it begins…_ he thought, walking toward the group he would soon be spending quite a long time with…

_**Me:**__ So Freaky, is that how you were imaging it when you found out about it?_ n.n  
_**Genis:**__ You're absolutely crazy. Although this will be funny to see, especially with Lloyd. Hahah! _n.n  
_**Me:**__ Thank you, and you're an evil brat. Hahah! Now review please._


	2. Adjusting to New Surroundings

_**Sage of Spirits:** Merry Christmas! I was afraid this wasn't going to get posted!  
**Genis:** Why?  
**Me:** Well, I can't say entirely - just I might expect the Internet to go down for a while. _n.n' _Disclaimer.  
**Genis: **Sage owns nothing.  
**Me: **Please read!

* * *

_

**Switch**

**Chapter 1: Adjusting to New Surroundings**

Kratos was unnerved at the constant staring of his new entourage and slowly took a seat next to Raine – the only available seat left – almost stumbling over, forgetting that Lloyd's twin swords were around his waist. Noticing the continual staring from his son's friends (as he was getting rather annoyed now), he slightly narrowed his eyes. "What?" he said in an aggravated tone.

The others jumped slightly, not expecting such a cold reply from the teen. "Where did you go, Lloyd?" Genis asked, slowly handing him a plate with one of Raine's sandwiches on it.

Kratos mentally smiled; his switch had worked after all. "I went for a walk." He said, taking the sandwich hesitantly, knowing that he was going to have to eat – probably a lot too. _I wish I had more of my tablets. For now, I can eat for a few weeks just fine, but soon I'll need more…_ he sighed, picking it up and taking a bite. He began to chew, hoping that it was safe to actually eat. He swallowed hard.

Genis looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "But that's not what Raine-" he began, when Kratos looked at him with an annoyed glare. The half-elf boy nearly wet himself, his face frozen in shock. His face grew pale and his teeth were revealed in a horrified frown.

"I went for a walk." Kratos reiterated, saying every word with a slight pause; his eyes were constantly staring at the boy. It was only five minutes, and Kratos was already in a bad mood.

"R-Right… S-Sorry L-Lloyd…" Genis stuttered in mild fear, hoping that the teen was not going to hurt him for prying. "A-Anyway, we were just talking about going through the Garroacchia Forest. It might take a day or two to cross over, and then after that the forest returns to normal. Then we can hurry and take Presea to Altessa." he said, turning his head to the pink-haired girl. "Is that fine with you, Lloyd?"

_What am I supposed to be, their leader?_ Kratos asked himself, sighing in his head. _And I guess that pink-haired girl is Presea… She reminds me of the Chosen when she was hanging before death's door…_ he thought. _Right, I was supposed to answer a foolish question._ "Alright." he said, hoping that was how his son would have said it. "We'll leave when we're ready then." he said, receiving nods from everyone, save the pink-haired girl. _She's non-responsive, just as the Chosen was… Could she be developing a Cruxis Crystal within her? And if so, are the Desians involved?_

"Lloyd?" Colette asked the teen, tilting her head slightly. Her bright blue eyes were growing concerned as worry set in. "Are you alright?"

Kratos flinched mildly; he had not noticed the Chosen talking to him. Looking around, he noticed that the others had already started to head toward the forest. _Remember Kratos, do not call her Chosen at any time. Lloyd never calls her by title…_ "Y-Yeah. Why?" he asked back, hoping he did not already expose himself.

However, Colette merely smiled. "Nothing, I was just worried about you. The Professor said that you went to talk with Kratos, so…" she said, looking away in slight fear. Kratos frowned; she was afraid of him yelling or glaring at her…

"Well, I kinda didn't want to talk about it, so having the others on my case got on my nerves." he replied, rubbing the back of his head; Kratos was grateful that he had caught his son doing this whenever he was embarrassed. "I did talk with Kratos." he said, mentally chuckling; it sounded rather humorous to refer to yourself in third person, he realized. "The Professor said that talking with him would help me get over the fact that he betrayed us." he paused, feeling his heart ache; it was still so painful to talk about, and he knew it. He shivered slightly, wanting to grasp his chest and remove the pain in his heart.

"Did it help?" she asked, frowning lightly. Kratos would have exasperated physically, were he not in front of Colette and pretending to be his son.

"Yeah, it did. I feel a lot better too." he forcibly smiled, trying to relieve the girl's fears. _I cannot believe that I have to try this hard just to fake a smile..._ he sighed for what felt like the fiftieth time today, being with the group for only twenty minutes at most. "So Ch- Colette, don't worry about me, okay?" he said, hoping that his slip-up went unnoticed. _Nice one, Kratos. Why don't you just tell her you are not Lloyd?_

Luckily for him, however, she appeared to have missed the accidental inkling. "I'm happy for you, Lloyd. I hope you and Kratos can get along again." she said, walking toward the forest entrance.

Kratos frowned once more. Lloyd was happy to being doing something with him again, but was it truly what the boy wanted? "Would we really have been able to do what he wanted?" he mumbled softly, turning toward where the others had gone. He broke into a run, noticing how far behind he was. _I feel like I'm running faster for some reason._ he thought as he ran; suddenly, he remembered. _Oh, that's right. I'm younger now. I'm Lloyd's age… _he grimaced as he arrived to where the other members of his group were. Yet for some reason, part of him was happy. _Maybe if I experience things at his age, I can better understand him… …Where did that come from?_ he asked himself.

"Lloyd, what's taking you so long?" Genis asked, staring at the teen with annoyance. He was tapping his foot against the ground lightly. "We need to get through the dark part of the forest as fast as possible."

Kratos rubbed the back of his head for a moment. "Sorry, I was just thinking about something." He said, faking a small smile. "Come on, let's get going. I'll lead the way." he inwardly smirked; his angelic senses could actually be put towards something for the betterment of the worlds. _I have to remember that his friends would most likely have poor vision in this dead forest… Not only that, but my strength is also limited._ he thought as he led the way. He suddenly stopped, hearing voices nearby. _What the-?_ he thought, instinctively unsheathing one sword.

"Ambush!" Raine shouted at the attacking Papal Knights; she noticed how Kratos was guarding with one sword. "Lloyd! Unsheathe your other sword!"

Kratos gasped lightly, forgetting about the twin sword style his was supposed to use. _Blast… I'm so used to using one sword that I forgot about the other one strapped on me… _he thought as he unsheathed the second sword. _Now then, what was an attack that could be used…? It's been so long since I've used this style…_ he thought, trying to remember an attack. "Humph." he scoffed, noting how the knights assumed he was open.

"Lloyd, look out!" Genis shouted, trying to hurry with his spell. Just as the knight was about to land a blow, Kratos swiftly slashed across the armor knight's chest with his left hand, a smirk growing on his face.

"Heh. Next time, don't get so cocky just because you think someone's off-guard." he said, bringing his left hand back to his side. He then charged off toward another knight, slashing his chest with his right hand; swiftly thrusting his left hand forward, he performed a simple Sonic Thrust, followed by a Sword Rain: Alpha. _Hmm, I seem to be remembering the moves now. Though I cannot be too fluent in them – or else I'll have them on my case again._ he thought, watching as the last of the Papal Knights fell onto the ground, a pool of blood surrounding them. "I don't think there are anymore around right now, so we'd better hurry." he responded, turning around; he began to walk off, wondering if the rest of them were following him.

"What's gotten into him?" Genis asked once he thought that Kratos was out of hearing. "It's like he went from being depressed to being…" he paused, trying to think of the proper word he was looking for, "being… tough, or something. Maybe even on the borderline of determination."

"Yes, you're right. I suppose talking with Kratos was the best thing for him. He's a lot more focused on what's ahead now, rather than what happened." Raine commented, nodding her head. "Come on – we should keep up with him. It would not be wise to get lost in this part of the forest." she said as they tried to catch up to him.

Kratos smirked slightly, feeling rather lucky; his son's friends really were not the brightest people after all. _While I'm saddened to find that Lloyd is not good at picking smart friends, that is what is helping me right now. But I should really learn to act a little more like him, and not like myself… I was lucky this time… _he said as he turned his head around; he spotted the group making their way to him. Standing still, he decided to wait for them to get closer. _After all, I do not want them to find out about my connection to him. I suppose that means that I'll have to tell Lloyd the next time I see him. Otherwise when he finds out, there may be no way to reconnect…_

_But…_ he thought, lowering his head, _what if I tell him and he rejects me anyway? He has his friends and Dirk. He does not need me – he's managed without me for fourteen years. _he continued forlornly, checking for his son's friends behind him; they were still out of hearing range. _Is there no easy way of getting through this…?_ "Anna, please grant me the strength you've been giving our son…" he said, turning around. "I thought you wanted to get through the forest as soon as possible."

"Yeah, well it's not our fault this place is so dark." Zelos whined loudly; Kratos fought off the urge to physically exasperate and place his hand onto his forehead. That, or punch the man in the face for acting like an idiot. "If it weren't for Her Highness, we'd have no light source."

Colette nodded her head. "Yeah! I can see fine, though!" she giggled, closing her eyes. "I'm happy that I can see so that I can help lead everyone to the lighter side of the forest!"

Kratos unintentionally smiled at the girl's innocence; he had not seen someone like that since Martel. "That's just like you, Colette." he chuckled slightly, turning himself toward the road ahead.

"Lloyd, wait a moment." Raine called out, hoping to get his attention. "Are you sure we're going the right way? How is your vision in this abysmal place? Should Colette be in front with you?"

Kratos sighed inaudibly, trying to think of a cover-up for his angelic vision. "It's dark, but I can just barely see the path ahead." he lied, hoping they would believe him. "Colette could be in front, but if someone charges in from the front, they could easily attack her. And since the Papal Knights are after her, it would be best to keep her in the center. That way they would have some obstacles before actually getting to her." he said, wondering how right he was in his assumption about the knights.

Everyone stared at him with mild shock. Kratos sighed again; he really had to stop doing that. "What? I'm just trying to keep Colette safe. Is that a problem?"

"No, it's not." Raine said, smiling. "It's just a little shocking to hear you come up with such a well-planned out idea. Very good, Lloyd." she said, causing Kratos to get extremely irate (as angry would have been an overstatement because there were far more things to get angry over than something like this); he did not know whether it was buried parental instinct that he did not know he still had, or knowing from contact with the boy that Lloyd was not a complete idiot. Sure, he was not as smart as Genis, but he did know some things. After all, Lloyd had one thing on them that only he could do.

"What, are you saying I'm too stupid to come up with an idea?" he said bitterly, narrowing his eyes threateningly. He gritted his teeth, releasing a light scowl before turning his back to 'his friends' and stomping down the path before him.

Raine gasped lightly, lowering her head in shame. "Come on, let's try and catch up. He might accidently go down the wrong path…" she said forcibly as she walked on. _How could I have said something like that? What kind of teacher am I to have mocked the intelligence of one of my own pupils?_ she mentally sighed, scanning the area for any signs of Kratos.

The rest of the group was following behind her, utterly silent. "Hey Genis," Sheena asked the boy, who had slowly turned his head toward her, "do you know why Lloyd acted that way?" The boy simply lowered his head, a frown revealed.

"You know how Lloyd isn't the smartest one around, right? Well," he said, trailing off slightly as if trying to find the appropriate words, "he hates it when people talk down to him like that, especially if they're talking about his intelligence level."

"But Genis, you mock him all the time! How is this time different?" she continued, looking for the fleeting form of the teen.

"Well yeah, I do, but I never mock his intelligence. I may have referred to it certain times, but I put it in a way where he wouldn't know it. You know, being ambiguous." he said, rubbing his cheek. "The first and last time I actually said something like 'you're so stupid, Lloyd' he punched me in the cheek so hard that it left a bruise for several weeks. Raine even had to cancel class for the rest of the day because of it."

"Really? Wow, I didn't know my Bud would take something like that so seriously." Zelos said, crossing his eyes. "Thanks for the warning – I do not want him mad at me like that."

"Wow, I didn't know either. Lloyd doesn't seem to be the type who would do that – it's quite surprising." Sheena said in small shock. "What happened that day?" Sheena pressed on, hoping to learn more.

"Lloyd had caused a bit of a stir. After he punched me, he turned to the rest of the class and shouted, 'anyone else want to call me stupid?!' He held his fist out at each of our classmates, which only scared them even more." Genis said, looking at Colette. "But he didn't direct that at Colette – he knew she would never do something like that to him."

"Oh, you were there, Colette?" Sheena asked the girl, who weakly nodded her head. "How careless of him to do something like that in front of you."

Colette shook her head vigorously. "He didn't know!" she shouted in his defense, looking around afterward. "Our classmates always talked about him. They thought he was too… 'stupid,'" she said, shuttering at having to say the dreaded word, "but he knew. It took all that he had just to ignore it. So when Genis openly called him that, he snapped and threatened to beat up our class if they said it too." she said, eyes watering up.

"Raine got angry at the class and dismissed them – she knew she couldn't teach a class when they were riled up like that. It was just the four of us left inside. Raine, even though she knew it wasn't his fault, glared at him for hitting me." he said, turning his attention to his sister. "She then helped me up and took me home. Colette later told me that for the first time, she saw him crying."

"Yeah… So everyone never called him anything that had a relation to that word again, because they were afraid he would beat them up. But the villagers were hoping something like that would happen." Colette said, looking down as they continued searching for the teen.

"What? Why?" Sheena responded, gasping lightly.

"They were looking for a way to exile him from the village." Raine said, entering the conversation. "With his outburst in the classroom upon being called that word, the parents and the villagers went straight to the mayor. If it weren't for Phaidra, Frank and Colette, he would have been exiled that day."

"That's horrible! It was their fault for making him sensitive to the word!" Sheena shouted, gasping lightly. "Sorry, I forgot we were trying to keep up with him. He shouldn't know that we're talking about him… Continue please…"

"They didn't care – he wasn't living in the village and he was raised by a dwarf, yet he came everyday to go to school. They treated him like an outcast. Only the younger children who didn't know of the incident actually went near him after that." the half-elf woman said. "At the end of that next day, I dismissed Lloyd to go home. I kept the rest of the class stay longer. I wanted to make sure that every one of them apologized to him or they would face harder homework assignments and stricter punishments until they did, even if it meant failing them for the year. Even Genis, though I knew he would right away."

Further ahead, Kratos was listening to every word that hung on their tongues, his hand in a fist. He was beyond angry now. "I bet they wouldn't have done that had I been there." he grunted softly, trying to be one step ahead of the group. "I think I'll have Lloyd evacuate the Chosen's family and those young children and have Yggdrasil destroy the village with those foolish people in it." he said, staring at his fist. "Just for fun." he said, watching as the gem glowed a bit. "Anna, I'm sure you would do something far worse." he sighed with exasperation, his face meeting with his gloved hand.

He walked further, finding himself in a small clearing. If he remembered correctly, they were almost out of the darkened state of the forest, and were soon coming into contact with healthier forests. He figured that by now they would expect him to have 'cooled off,' so he decided to wait for them. Leaning next to a nearby tree, he closed his eyes, trying to analyze would had happened earlier.

_Something hit me from behind, I know that much. And since that something could not have gotten to me without help, I can guess that someone shot it from somewhere…_ he deduced, drooping his head a bit. _But the only problem with that is I did not sense anyone nearby. So that could only mean that someone was spying on us, and shot whatever hit me from beyond my hearing and sensing…_ he thought, hearing the group get closer; he figured that by now they would be able to see him – or at least the Chosen would. _The question is who… Who would do this?_

"Lloyd?" he heard someone call out; opening one eye, he saw the Chosen running toward him. However, she must have failed to notice that root nearby, as she tripped over it. "Ah!" she shouted, extending her arms as she face-planted onto the ground.

Kratos turned away and placed his hand onto his forehead (as he did not want her to see him doing that) and walked over to her, grabbing her hand. "Here Colette, let me help." he said, pulling her up. "You need to be more careful. You never know when there are loose roots around." he scolded lightly, hoping that by now she would learn her lesson and actually looked before she leaped.

Colette smiled happily, nodding her head. "Okay! I'll be more careful! Thanks for the help, Lloyd." she giggled as the rest of the group came up behind her. Kratos wanted to shake his head at her, but did not have the heart to do so; after all, she could not help that she was a complete ditz.

"It's fine, but I think we're almost out of the bad part of the forest. After we can get through this little bit, it should return to normal and we can get further to helping Presea." he said, hoping he got the name right. By watching the Chosen's reaction, apparently he was right. He mentally sighed; if he had screwed that one up, even she would have been suspicious.

"Yeah! I hope we can help her out…" she said, turning her head to the girl. "It's saddening to see someone being experimented on just because she was…" she paused, as if trying to remember the word that she was supposed to use. "Compatible! That was it! Compatible." she smiled, ignorant to Kratos' mental expression.

_So she was experimented on… I can only assume that she is making a Cruxis Crystal in her after all. And I can bet that if that's the case, it's probably the Angelus Project._ he thought, an angry expression visibly showing on his face. _And if it is the Angelus Project, then the Desians are involved in this. _

"Lloyd?" Colette asked, shaking the teen out of his trance. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing much." he stated, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I'm just mad that they researched on an innocent person on the Angelus Project." he said, unconsciously folding his hands into a fist.

"Don't worry, Lloyd! We'll save her!" she responded with enthusiasm, hoping that she was helping him with his anger. "Once we see Altessa, I'm sure she'll be fine again!"

He began to smile lightly. He was beginning to understand why Lloyd liked her so much. "Yeah. So come on, guys, let's hurry!" he said, running toward the borderline between health and dearth. Kratos gasped lightly in his mind as he slowed his pace a bit. _Where did that burst of youthfulness come from? That seemed to have come from out of nowhere… Well, I just hope it does not happen again…_ he concluded, walking onward.

Or rather, he would have, had he not sensed someone within the vicinity. Placing his hands on both swords this time, he cautiously stepped into a larger clearing. He saw the two paths that led to either Ozette or a dead end. Spying the healthier trees once one stepped out of the Garroacchia Forest, he felt relief. It was tiring being in this dreadful place.

Kratos saw the group catch up and placed his hand in front of them. Upon seeing what he was doing, the group looked at him with concern. "What's wrong, Lloyd?" Genis asked the teen, who was looking around for something.

"I have this eerie feeling that someone is here…" was all he said, turning to Colette. "Do you hear anything, Colette?" he asked the girl, who looked down the pathway to Ozette.

"Umm…" she paused, closing her eyes to slightly improve her hearing. "I hear the clanking of armor down that way… There are a lot of them… Could they be the Papal Knights?" she asked, turning to Kratos. "Is that what you sensed?"

"Not quite, but that would be a problem if the Papal Knights were waiting for us to exit the forest…" Kratos responded, rubbing his chin with his hand. "I wish we could find out if they really are there or not… That would save us the hassle of being caught."

"Don't worry." Sheena said, entering a summoning stance. "I've got it covered. Corrine!" she shouted loud enough for the spirit to hear and hopefully not loud enough for the possible knights to hear. Corrine landed on her shoulder, rubbing his head against her cheek.

"What is it, Sheena?" he asked, hoping for the ninja to stroke his fur. Smiling, Sheena placed her hand onto his head, rubbing it affectionately.

"Corrine, I need you to do some scouting for me." she said, staring down the pathway Colette mentioned. "I need you to see if the Papal Knights are waiting for us down this road or not. Hurry!" she told the spirit, who jumped onto the ground.

"Gotcha! I'll be back, Sheena!" he said and scurried off. _Don't worry, Sheena – I'll protect you. Just as you protected me…_

Kratos' stance had not eased in the slightest; something was wrong, and he knew it. He gasped suddenly, unsheathing his swords; he jumped backward, just as a man landed in front of him. He noticed the shackles on the man's wrists, and instantly knew he was a convict. "Who are you and what do you want?" he said, adjusting his grip on both swords.

"I mean you no harm." he said, placing his chained hands partially up. "I wish to speak with her." he said as he pointed to Presea; she had not reacted to the blue-haired man's comment.

Kratos grunted. "Humph. Do you honestly believe that we'd let you do that? We don't know your motives. What makes you think we'll just let you do that?" he said, tilting his head to the side, his eyes narrowed; his upper lip was raised in annoyance, his teeth exposed.

The man lowered his head slightly. "I can understand where you come from – I was ordered to take the Chosen of Sylvarant in exchange for a promise to be fulfilled, after all."

Colette tilted her head in confusion. "Huh? You were supposed to capture me? Why?" she asked.

"You are the Chosen of Sylvarant? I see… I do not know – I was not told any specifics in the reasoning behind your capture." he responded, frowning.

Raine stared at the man, wondering how such a convict could speak with such fluency. Holding back that question for now, she asked the one that was bothering her most. "Who sent you to capture her?"

"It was the Pope." he said, shifting his feet. "In exchange for capturing the Chosen, he promised…" he paused, finding that he was coming up with an excuse for his actions. "I'm sorry, but I cannot tell you the rest. It would just be an excuse for the crimes that have been committed."

Zelos sighed nonchalantly, throwing his arms out. "Why must that old geezer get in our way somehow?" he asked, laughing weakly. "I mean, he acts like he wants something that he can't have, and has to do whatever possible to get it."

"Zelos!" Sheena shouted at the man, waiting to see Corrine. "We need to take this seriously! What could he want? He probably wants to have Colette killed to keep Tethe'alla prospering, but he doesn't know that if Sylvarant dies, so will Tethe'alla."

"What?" the blue-haired man replied, obviously shocked at what he had heard. "You said that if Sylvarant dies so will Tethe'alla? How was that possible?"

Kratos sighed at the man; for being rather fluent in his speaking, he did not seem to understand just how dire the situation was if Sylvarant was destroyed. "The worlds are connected…somehow," he paused, realizing that they probably had not figured the "why" out just yet, "and we need to find a way to save both worlds from dying." he finished, looking down the pathway. _Oh no, they are on their way now…_

"Everyone, hurry! There were a lot of knights coming and they are heading this way!" Corrine shouted before stopping, the urgent news being dire in nature.

"But the Papal Knights are waiting for us on the other side if we go back." Raine said, turning her head back the way they came. "It seems like there are no other alternatives…" she responded, looking grim.

Sheena sighed, knowing it was their only hope for survival. "Then that leaves me with no choice. We're heading to Mizuho. Move quickly before they spot us!" she said, making a dash for the exit to the south. Everyone began to follow her down, not wanting to complain just yet. Kratos, Raine and the blue-haired man remained there.

"You're coming with us." Kratos told him, still having no sight of the Papal Knights yet – to his relief. "Right now, you are our prisoner. Do anything rash and I shall cut you down. Understood?" he said, his authoritative aura revealing itself in a glare. The man nodded his head in consent. "Then hurry!" he said, pulling Raine by the arm. They ran down the path and exited just before the knights were able to spot them.

_(--Outside the forest…--)_

"Lloyd, is it really a safe idea to have him come with us?" Genis asked, looking nervous about having the man walking with them. "I mean, he could be a spy or something!" he said. Kratos looked at the man again, raising his eyebrow.

"What's your name?" it was more of a statement than a question.

"Regal." The convict responded, feeling Kratos' aura overpowering his. "I wish to speak with the pink-haired girl about something." he said, closing his eyes while he tilted his head.

"That is not possible." Raine quickly stated, placing her hand onto her chin. "She is in a non-responsive state until we can get a dwarf named Altessa to replace her key crest." she said, watching as the man appeared to be in a slight state of shock.

"She is a victim of the exsphere?" he said with a hint of anger; the group nodded their heads, agreeing with what the half-elf said. "Then I ask that I help you with recovering her heart. Please. If there is anything that I able to assist with, I would be glad to help."

"I don't know." Genis said, looking at Presea; he was still suspicious of the man. "He may end up betraying us or something."

"Actually, I think we should let Pops here fight." Zelos said, much to Genis' dismay. "He won't try anything until he gets to talk to Presea, and he's willing to help her, so he's obviously got some tie to her. Although I'd be a little freaked if he was a ra-" he tried to say, when Sheena hurriedly smacked him in the head. "Sheena…!" he whined, pouting.

"You shouldn't say things like that around certain people!" she replied, sharply turning her head to Colette, hoping that she was not going to ask what the red-head was going to say. "Anyway, I can't really say anything. I was once your enemy too."

"Sorry Genis, but I have to agree with them." Raine stated with a slight smile on her face. "He might prove to be beneficial to us, and he increases our fighting force to eight members. It would be easier to take on someone like Kratos now." she said, noticing Kratos flinch slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, Lloyd. I should have watched what I said…"

Kratos turned his attention onto the teacher and shook his head. "It's alright, Professor. I know that you would feel that way about m- him." he said, almost slipping up. "Anyway, Sheena, how far is this Mizuho?" he said with more enthusiasm that he thought he would have. _That was another weird thing that's happened to me. Could this be an effect of my age changing? I should alert Lloyd to be on the lookout for such changes, just to be sure. _he thought, stroking his chin.

"Mizuho is about three days away, including the rest of today, if we hurry. Judging by how much time we have though, it might take the night of the third day to the morning of the fourth. And I would recommend arriving in the morning."

Colette tilted her head in confusion. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Colette, we ninjas are shadow stalkers. Most of us are more active at night so we can carry out with our missions in secret. However, that also means that we are more alert at night because of possible sneak attacks." Sheena said, shifting her weight onto her other leg. "So entering the village at night might just stir the villagers into attack us, even going so far as killing us."

"So you're saying that we should wait until morning to enter the village if we would arrive at night, right?" Kratos said, turning serious; he saw Sheena nod her head. "Got it. We don't want to get them after us if we are in need of their help."

"Yes. The networks in Mizuho would really help us out, especially when they can help us find where the Rheairds were taken. Luckily, I had a seal placed on my rheaird, so if it's still there, they should be able to find them faster than normal." the ninja explained. "Anyway, we've wasted enough time – we should get going to the village. I'll lead the way." she replied, heading for the Mystical Village of Mizuho…

* * *

_**Me:** As promised, Freaky. Merry Christmas! _:D  
_**Genis:** Whatever. Hey, what happened to Lloyd?  
**Me:** You'll see. Heheh... Anyway, Merry Christmas, guys! (And of course, Happy Holidays for everyone. _n.n_) Review Please!_


	3. Voices in His Head

**Switch**

**Chapter 2: Voices in His Head**

Kratos sat near the fire, seeing it was his turn for night watch. He found himself lucky, he supposed; this was their third day of travel with him, and he had not been caught, despite his weak attempts at sleeping. It truly was a curse and a blessing that he kept his angelic abilities in his new teenage form. He shuttered; how uncomfortable that felt…

For someone who had experienced almost everything, this should not have shocked him as much as it had. But then again, he never thought he would exchange ages with his son. No, he had to stop doing this. It was all part of Fate's plan – Fate allowed this to happen, and he would just have to accept and follow through with it. He just had to keep telling himself that; knowing that somehow made him feel better.

However, he did frown at the fact that his strength was not what it was. He tried to lift a boulder during training and found that he could not even budge it. Even Noishe seemed rather surprised that Kratos could not raise it over his head. (Kratos was still confused as to how they even managed to get Noishe to Tethe'alla.) After that incident, he tried to re-adjust to the twin sword style, having not used it since-

"Lloyd?" he heard someone call his son's name and jumped slightly. "Oh, did I scare you? I'm sorry." The voice said, Kratos still trying to figure out who it was. Shaking his head a bit, he spotted the blond-haired girl, a frown on her face.

"Oh, sorry Colette," Kratos said, trying to think of something Lloyd-like to say, "I was just thinking about something. What's up?" he internally winced; these youthful phrases sounded so wrong and unfamiliar to him…

"Is something wrong?" she asked, grasping her hands together and placing them on her chest. Her eyes shook slightly in worry, a small frown on her face. Kratos sat there quietly, his head lowered. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked…" she said forlornly, turning away.

Kratos sighed as guilt slowly set it; she did nothing wrong, she was just worried about him, as usual. "Sorry Colette, it's just," he paused, thinking on his feet, "something's come up that I need to take care of myself." he said, averting his eyes away from her.

"Oh…" she replied, releasing a sigh of relief she never knew she had. "I was worried that it was something very bad." she said, smiling. Though Kratos swore he saw a faint blush on her face, but he could not be certain. "But were you thinking about Kratos earlier?"

Kratos could not help but mentally smile – he still got a light chuckle whenever he was referred to in third person. "Yeah – I was just wondering when we'll do something. I haven't seen him since last time, so I was kinda hoping he'd tell me if we were training again." he said, watching as Colette's smile grew a bit, when Kratos stared at her with slight authority. "You can't tell the others about it, okay? I don't want them knowing about it unless they find out on their own."

Colette nodded her head, placing her hands onto his. "Don't worry, Lloyd – I won't tell them!" she closed her eyes, tilting her head slightly. "I promise."

Kratos nodded his head, eyes semi-fixed in a glare. "Thanks. Anyway, you should get back to sleep. We'll be entering Mizuho tomorrow."

"Okay." She replied, standing. She walked over to Kratos and gave him a hug. "Good night, Lloyd. See you tomorrow morning." she said, releasing him from her grasp. She went over to her tent, entering it.

Kratos sighed to himself. If what he expected holds true, he would have to be careful around the Chosen. But he could not be certain at this moment; he would have to wait until later on. But placing his hands onto his forehead, he stared into the fire. He then felt something brush up against his leg, and he lazily stared at the creature. "What's up, Noishe?"

Noishe forced his nose onto Kratos' arm, signaling the man to rub on him. "'I should stop talking like Lloyd?'" Kratos said, rubbing Noishe's fur. "I cannot. Not while they think I'm him." he said, averting his gaze. Noishe whined, moving slightly. Kratos sighed, moving his gloved hand up toward the protozoan's ears. "I do not know. I just hope that it will happen before Lloyd adjusts to Cruxis. I'll have to warn him about that." he said, playing with the creature's ears; he smirked when Noishe shook his head, whining.

Kratos humphed loudly. "I never wanted this to happen, you fool. I did not want Lloyd anywhere near Cruxis." he said, looking at Noishe with a slight glare. "If anyone's to blame, it's you – you did not do what I asked." he said, his hand in a fist. Noishe growled slightly, curling up in a ball. "I'm sorry – I'm still irritated that someone got one over me."

"'Do I know who did it?' No. Or rather, I do not know who." he said, turning his head and glaring at no one in particular. "I've been thinking these past few days, and the only ones who would try something like this would be the Renegades." he said angrily, glare growing in ferocity. "But if in some event that it was Cruxis, I will make him pay."

Hearing Noishe whine once more before curling up into a ball beside him, he sighed. "Noishe, when we get the chance to talk again," he said before the creature fell asleep, "I want you to tell me about Lloyd and Colette's relationship." Kratos said, his hand softly brushing over the beast, whose eyes closed gently.

* * *

"Lloyd, are you ready?" Sheena asked the teen, who nodded his head. The ninja sighed weakly, her legs shivering slightly. She knew she had to face this and explain herself, but with the current tension between her and the rest of the villagers, she could not help but be nervous. _Come on, Sheena. Everyone's counting on you to do this right…_ she told herself as she walked to the village entrance. She spotted her blue-garbed friend, a hand heading for his forehead. "Orochi…"

"Sheena…" the man said with a heavy sigh, watching as the other villagers stared at them with tense eyes. Sheena could tell she was already judged by the villagers body language. "What reason do you have for bringing outsiders into the village?"

She shook her head sadly, turning her head back to the others. "I've brought the ones from Sylvarant." she said, getting gasps from both Orochi and the ease-droppers around them. "Half of this group is from Sylvarant, the other half natives of Tethe'alla. However, they are like us – wanted by the Church of Martel."

Orochi nodded his head as if in understanding. He saw the gazes from the other villagers, their expressions revealing their intrigue. They have no business hearing what Sheena had to say – he had to find someplace private. "I see. Sheena, please come with me to see the Vice-Chief." he said, turning to the other members of the group. "I ask that you wait outside until I come out to get you. Village rules."

Kratos nodded his head, saddened that he became the unofficial leader of the group. "Got it. We'll be outside the building, if that's okay with you." The male ninja nodded his head in acceptance and led Sheena over a bridge, entering a house surrounded by water. Kratos turned to Raine. "Professor, how are we doing in gels?"

Raine looked into her bag, shaking her head. "We could use a few more Lemon Gels as backups, just in case." she said, heading for the stand before Kratos could say a word. "I'll be right back."

"Well, now what do we do?" Zelos said with a sigh, throwing his arms out casually. "I think we should-" Off in the distance, Kratos narrowed his eyes in annoyance. Zelos, growing slightly nervous, changed gears onto their current goal. "-wait outside of the house Sheena went in."

Genis widened his eyes in shock. "Wow Zelos, that's actually a good idea coming from you." he replied, somewhat impressed. "I half-expected you to make some kind of stupid comment like always."

Zelos grumbled inaudibly. "Well, you can say that I'd have someone after me if we didn't wait for my voluptuous hunny." he said, trying to ignore the annoyed expression on Kratos' face.

The young boy laughed softly, grinning ear-to-ear. "Yeah, Sheena would get pretty mad at you for being your stupid self."

Kratos was getting rather tired of this. He walked over to the rest of the group. "Alright, alright, stop clowning around and get a move on already." he said, turning around and sighing lightly, not wanting anyone to hear him. _Lloyd, how did you manage to lead this group for as long as you have?_ he asked no one in particular, deciding to sit near the flowing creek. Hopefully no one would come near him.

"Lloyd?" Kratos did not bother looking up, knowing full well who it was. Sitting next to him, Genis looked at him with slight concern. "Is something bothering you?"

"Not really." Kratos responded nonchalantly. After inspecting for fish – luckily finding none – he removed the red glove, sticking his hand into the cool water. "Why do you ask?"

Genis shrugged. "I don't know, you just looked depressed or something. I mean, I really haven't been a good friend after all. I haven't been as understanding about certain things, so I was hoping that you weren't mad or something." he said, chuckling weakly. He averted his eyes away from the teen, just in case he was mad at him.

_Oh for the love of…_ "Genis, why would I be mad?" Kratos said with weak exasperation, hoping the boy did not catch his frustration. He took his hand out of the water, shaking it dry before putting the glove back on. "I mean, that doesn't really matter that you thought you weren't being as understanding, as long as you know now." he said, a small smile appearing on his face, his eyes narrowed a bit. _I still feel like an idiot doing this… _

Genis smiled back, a little more confident. "Thanks, Lloyd. That makes me feel better. I'll try to be more understanding next time." he said, reaching for his kendama. "I'm going to go practice for a bit. You want to come and see if you can do it?"

Kratos frowned. Of course he could do it. The problem was whether or not they believed Lloyd could do it. What should he do? He figured he would just have to be careful. He smiled slightly; he wanted to show off his skill of the toy.

…Wait, where did that come from? "You're on."

_(--Lloyd…--)_

Lloyd mentally sighed as he entered into the forested area where he practiced the single-sword style. He was just getting the hang of this new sword style, but he could only use a few skills. Most notably, he realized, skills that he only needed one sword for. _I only know I can use Demon Fang and Sonic Thrust, but I can't move my arm fast enough to perform Sword Rain… _he thought, gritting his teeth. That meant he would have one less technique to use. He would have to learn a new move to make up for the one he lost. What was that move Kratos used during the journey? He would have to ask him when he next saw him.

He looked at the apparel he was wearing, wondering just how he had blended in with the city folk. He figured everyone believed he was some rich noble, seeing how fancy it was. "At least he keeps a lot of gald in the pockets in this thing." he said to himself, only slightly wincing at his deeper voice. "And out here no one tries to make passes at me." he frowned, remembering the looks he was getting from the local girls of Sybak.

He smiled once he arrived at the spot from last time, the marks he left from his last training session. Training with this foreign sword-style would clear his mind. Actually, for some reason, his mind had been clear longer than when he was at his normal age. He also found that he was slightly calmer and more collected, especially when dealing with the ladies. _I wonder if Kratos is having similar problems. I'll have to ask him when I see him._

Slipping the shield onto his left hand, he frowned at how it was not another sword instead, having loved his twin-sword style. Unsheathing the sword with his right hand – while making sure he did not do anything rash with the double-edged blade – he tried to remember that sword technique Kratos had used. In fact, he was sure that Zelos used the move too. But then, Zelos did not fight that often, the lazy bum, so he could not clearly recall the technique. The only thing he could remember was that the move caused the target to get electrified…

"Well that's a no-go. What other move is there that I could do? I can't use magic or angelic skills, and I can't remember the other sword techniques that they can do…" he said to hear himself think. After standing there for what felt like half-an-hour, he figured he was not going to get anything done. "I'll just work on my movement." he decided, getting into a stance.

Lloyd ran toward the tree, his sword off to the side, the shield put up. Slashing the tree, he jumped back as quickly as he could while keeping the shield covering his front, pretending that he was about to get attacked. He then jumped to the right, striking the tree on the side. He suddenly stopped, coming to a slightly startling conclusion. "The only way I'll know how to parry with the shield is if someone actually attacks me, not this kind of dodging…" he sighed, deciding to sit underneath the nicked tree. He gently placed his equipment onto the ground.

Lloyd sat there, listening to the calm breeze flowing through the forest. He made the mistake of looking into the shield's reflection, catching a glimpse of his face. He flinched, moving the shield away. Sure, the voice was becoming less awkward for him, but that was only because he was hearing it all the time. His face on the other hand, was only visible to him when he looked into some reflective surface. "I guess I need to look at myself a lot if I'm to get used to this." he said with a light hum, turning the reflective surface back at him. He stared into the shield, as if something was going to happen. He lay back onto the bark of the tree.

"I wonder what the others are up to." he asked himself, crossing his arms. "I guess they must have thought Kratos was me after all, or else he would have come search for me." he said as he closed his eyes, tilting his head a bit. Almost out of nowhere, he felt a slight irritation in his upper back. "Huh. I must have worked harder than I thought – my back's starting to hurt. Maybe I should-" he tried to say, when the pain intensified to cover his entire shoulder blades. "What the…?! What's… going on…?!" he said a little louder, getting onto his knees. He set his hands onto the earth as his shoulders continued to ache. The pain only intensified, lasting longer than he was used to – what was only ten minutes felt like an hour.

Finally, he screamed, closing his eyes as the pain almost became unbearable. But all too suddenly, the pain vanished. Lloyd continued to breathe heavily, sweat rolling down his forehead. He could not point out what exactly was different or wrong. He felt his back, rubbing his shoulder blades in an attempt to massage them. "Odd, there's something tickling my back." he said, grabbing the object. He grew startled at his discovery. "A feather? What-?" he began until he thought to look behind him; he spotted the blue wings flapping mindlessly and gaped at the discovery.

Lloyd stared at the appendages, speechless. He did not move for quite some time as he watched his wings flap calmly. It was not until he heard a noise further off that he shook himself from his trance. Shaking his head, Lloyd rushed for his equipment on the grass, swiftly strapping the shield onto his arm and fiercely grasping the sword in his hand. Narrowing his eyes to try to see where the noise came from, he saw nothing.

Suddenly, a night raid jumped into the small clearing. Lloyd, sensing something behind him, quickly put up the shield as another night raid tried to claw his back. The pair started to encircle around him, hoping to taunt him. _Okay, Lloyd, here's your first test. You can do this, you've been practicing and you're not defenseless…_ he told himself as he drew his sword back. He had to aim this just right. _Now!_

"Demon Fang!" he shouted, hurling the energy wave at the appropriate time, causing one of the night raids to temporarily draw back as the other charged toward him. Blocking the claw with his shield, he slashed at the beast, being mindful of the other wolf. Luckily, he caused a good deal of damage onto the one night raid; it started licking its wounds before it could go back to attack him. Lloyd winced as he charged toward it, taking advantage of it. He thought to be merciful – he cut off its head, quickly ending its life.

He then turned toward the other night raid, wanting to get this over with. Lloyd ran over to the wolf, raising his shield in defense. He then sliced its head off, mercifully ending its life in the same fashion as the first. Strapping the shield onto his arm and sheathing his sword, he bowed his head. "This left a bad taste in my mouth for some reason." Lloyd said as he inspected the wolves' carcasses. "Guess I still feel kinda feel a little bad about killing animals…" he figured, walking toward the path he came.

"Something still doesn't feel right." he said, turning his head behind him. "Ah crud! That's right! I have wings!" he said, reaching behind him so he could try to feel them. "With the wolves attacking me, I forgot about them… But how do I put them away? How do I use them to fly?" he asked himself, trying to compose himself so he could try to think logically. Wait, that did not feel right. "What's wrong with me? That wasn't like me at all. I definitely need to talk with Kratos."

He sighed again to himself. "Now all I got to do is figure out how to use these things and actually find him…"

_(--Mizuho…--)_

"Go, Lloyd, go!" Colette said merrily, clapping her hands together happily. She would have jumped up and down in joy, but she was not allowed to do so when she was younger, as it was rude and discourteous. The one time she did try, Phaidra had gotten a little upset and kindly asked her to stop. Seeing the worry in Phaidra's eyes, she had not done it since.

"Wow, Lloyd." Genis said, somewhat stunned at the teen's ability with the kendama. "I would have thought you'd be the last one who would have gotten the hang of it." he said as his eyes widened a bit.

Kratos sighed slightly as he topped the ball onto the stick, returning it to its original position. "What can I say? I have the power to surprise people." he smirked at the boy, handing him the object. He then spotted Orochi walk out of the center hut. "Come on, I think they're ready for us." Kratos said, somewhat enjoying his good mood. _I feel strange, but in a somewhat good way. Must be this modern youthfulness I'm experiencing…_ he thought with a smile as he approached the ninja. "You ready for us?" Kratos said, watching as Orcohi nodded his head.

"Yes. The Vice-Chief and Sheena are waiting inside for you." he replied, opening the door. "Please come with me." they followed him in, soon spotting Sheena and another man talking idly to one another. As soon as everyone took a seat, Orochi left the building, guarding the door from ease-droppers.

"So, visitors from Sylvarant and fellow guests of Tethe'alla," the man next to Sheena began, bowing his head slightly, "I welcome you, despite knowing nothing of your plans. Save for what Sheena has told me. I am Tiga, Vice-Chief of Mizuho. Chief Igaguri is ill, so I lead in his place. What reason brings you to our doorsteps?"

"We were ambushed by the Papal Knights," Kratos said, almost looking bored with the whole situation, "and if we hadn't come here, they would have captured and executed us." he said, turning his head to the others. Kratos mentally sighed. _Well, here goes nothing._ "I mean, we're kind of a mixed group – visitors from Sylvarant that have a Chosen almost finished with her journey that we're trying to end without her death…" Kratos said, watching as Colette half-heartedly smiled, unsure of how to take the comment.

"Plus we have two half-elves from Sylvarant who are wrongfully accused of something stupid just because they're half-elves." Kratos said with annoyance, earning a light pat from Raine. He was defending them; she felt something that made her delighted. It must have been the fact that she had someone who actually cared. But there was one lingering fear she held; why did he have to tell him that they were half-elves? That would limit their chances of earning a potential ally…

"And that's just the Sylvarant side. They want your Chosen dead because he's in the way of the Pope. I doubt they trust Sheena or Regal now, and then there's the horror they put on Presea…" he said with utter distaste. Despite being somewhat apart of the human race, Kratos could not help but be annoyed by almost all of them. Save for his select few, of course.

Tiga chuckled lightly at Kratos. "I see. Well spoken. You are an idealist – shall we have another Mithos the Hero to save us from the pit of darkness, like during the Kharlan War?"

Kratos grew silent, eyes almost beading down on Tiga. Him? An idealist like Mithos? Absurd. He would have laughed had he been alone. After all, there was nothing he could do against Mithos; he proved that through Fate, who tied him back into Cruxis despite his traitorous actions. It seemed that Mithos' plan was the only one that would work, despite its numerous, obvious flaws. "I'm no Mithos." Kratos said with annoyance.

Tiga continued to laugh, despite unknowing the truthfulness in Kratos' words. "Still, your words hold true to those of an idealist, and you do plan to save both worlds and not sacrifice one for the other. Am I wrong?"

"Of course not! Lloyd's going to find a way to save both worlds and Colette!" Genis spoke on Kratos' behalf, straightening himself. "He's already come this far, and he'll only go further! I know I have faith in him, and I'll be with him all the way!" he said, smiling. "I know you can do it, Lloyd."

"Yeah!" Colette agreed, moving a little closer. "Lloyd's always trying to find ways to prevent me from sacrificing myself, even when I thought it was the only way to save the world." she said, lowering her head temporarily before raising it swiftly. "I believe in Lloyd. He's always been there for me when I needed him the most. It's my turn to be his support." Colette said, placing her hand onto Kratos' shoulder. "I'll always be here for you, Lloyd."

Kratos did not know what to say. This whole thing completely opposed his beliefs. How could he pretend to believe that this motley crew of people could reunite the worlds when even he failed to do so? He needed a distraction…

* * *

Lloyd grunted, impacting the ground for what felt like the fiftieth time today. "Grah! Where's Kratos when you need him?!" he shouted to no one in particular, lifting himself off the ground once more. Lloyd wiped off the dirt staining his clothes, grumbling at how dirty it had become. Lloyd hoped Kratos had some other clothes he could wear, or at least something to clean them with. Lloyd stared annoyingly at his wings, as they were not helping him get to where he needed to be. "I wish Kratos left some kind of instructions on how to use these things…" he grumbled to himself.

"Come on, Lloyd, concentrate!" he told himself as he once again tried to lift himself off of the ground. Lloyd felt himself hovering and tried to take advantage of that before he fell again. "Grah!" he shouted in disgust. "That wasn't even a high fall! Why did it hurt just as much?!" he sat up, deciding that he was too tired to continue. Lloyd opened the bag that contained his lunch, figuring that he might be able to focus with a full stomach.

"Ah! Here we go!" he said with a grin, pulling out his meat lover's sandwich. That said sandwich contained a slice of chicken, turkey, roast beef, almost any type of meat you could think of. Except for ham – he could eat the meat, but he did not particularly jump for it if given the choice. He took the small jar of milk and sat it onto the ground. Lloyd could feel the drool building as he licked his lips. He took a large bite, hoping to calm his growling stomach.

Lloyd looked down with slight distaste at his clothes, half-expecting pieces of meat to be laying on them. In fact, he would have eaten any meat off the uniform had there not been so much dirt covering them. "I'm so lucky Kratos keeps a lot of gald in this thing, or I'd be in serious trouble…" he said in relief; he used some of the gald to buy the bag (as Kratos now held his in Lloyd's place) and some food and drinks so he would not starve. "Though I can't help but wonder how he got it all… Ah well, his lost, my gain." he said with a grin, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Say, where's that seasoning I got? This could use a bit more – I must not have put enough on." he said as he dug into the bag for the seasoning. Lloyd then found the blue feather off to the side, and gasped. Kratos did say something about that feather, had he not? What was it that he said? Something about communication? "Ah! Of course! I remember now!" Lloyd shouted, almost knocking over his milk in the process. But how could you talk to someone through a feather? "Argh, why can't he ever explain anything?!" he grumbled to himself…

* * *

Kratos just about had it with what was going on here. They were talking about what he would do and not do – and half of the things they said he did not believe in. Mostly for the reason that almost everything they suggested would not work. Well, he supposed he leaned more toward hoping that it would work, but figuring that it would not. How could he fool them into thinking he was Lloyd after all that now? He would have to tread carefully.

_**Argh, why can't he ever explain anything?!**_

Kratos almost physically flinched; that voice was so loud, it almost hurt. Wait, he knew that voice… _Lloyd?_ Kratos thought, hoping he was not hearing things. This was not the kind of distraction he was hoping for.

_**Kratos! It worked!**_ Kratos heard Lloyd say in triumph; Kratos was trying to prevent his eyes from twitching too much. Lloyd simply could not lower his voice… _**I should kick your butt the next time I see you! You could have at least explained how to use these things!**_

Kratos instinctively covered his ears in a futile attempt to muffle Lloyd's loud voice. Unfortunately for him, this move also drew attention onto himself. "Lloyd, what's wrong?" Raine asked the teen, who had not responded. "Lloyd!" she said, grabbing Kratos' shoulder. "What's wrong, Lloyd?"

_Lloyd, you are going to be quiet, and I mean right now._ Kratos said in a very annoyed tone._ You have me in a tight spot because you kept talking so loud. _Kratos told Lloyd, still wincing from the pain of Lloyd's booming voice. _I might be able to contact you back, but if not in half an hour, contact me again. Now be quiet._ Silence. Kratos was glad that Lloyd understood that now was not the time. He looked at Raine, a slight look of concern on her face. _Wonderful. The damage has been done…_ "W-What's up, Professor?"

Raine released a light sight of relief. He did not appear to be afflicted anymore. She placed her hand onto his forehead; no fever. "What was it that was bothering you? We see you placing your hands on your ears and grew concerned."

Sheena nodded her head. "Yeah. And I'm almost certain that I saw your eyes twitching, like you were in pain." Kratos mentally sighed with aggravation; of course they would notice something happening to their supposed leader. He needed to come up with something fast. "What happened, Lloyd?"

Kratos rubbed the side of his head, closing one eye. "I'm not entirely sure, really." he said, his mind running through the plan carefully; he could afford no mistakes. "I was just sitting here listening to everyone talk, then suddenly, I…" he stopped to take a short pause, "I heard a voice calling out in my head. It was masked so I couldn't tell who exactly it was, and it was really loud." he said, watching the group gasp. "What? You don't think it was Cruxis, do you?"

Raine placed her hand to her chin, stroking it thoughtfully. "That is a likely assumption, but we can't say for certain." she said, scanning Kratos' physical being for any trace of… well, anything different. He may have been bugged with something they did not know of. "Cruxis is one possibility, yes, but we cannot rule out the Renegades."

Kratos became confused. How would the Renegades factor into this? While he did not know the true leader of the Renegades (despite Yuan's failed attempts at unmasking him), he could not figure out why she would bring them up. "Why would the Renegades have anything to do with it?" Kratos asked, hoping to get some answers.

Genis rolled his eyes; leave it to Lloyd to forget something like that already. "Lloyd, they're after you for some reason. How could you forget that?" he said, placing his hand onto his hip.

Kratos mentally gasped; the Renegades wanted Lloyd? This was a valuable piece of information; he had not known that they wanted him. He would have to keep an even closer eye on the Renegades from here on out. Perhaps being with this group would prove to be useful after all. "Yes, Yuan wants you for some reason. If we can figure out what that is, we may be able to work things in our favor." Kratos heard Raine say; it took nearly all of his willpower to keep himself calm. "So if you see him, Lloyd, try to keep away and let us know." she said, watching Kratos nod his head.

"But other than that, we're good, right? We'll take care of Presea while Mizuho searches for the rheairds." Kratos said with mild authority, receiving nods from the group and Tiga. "Alright then, let's get going. Come on, guys." he said, rising from his seat and quickly walked out the door. Once outside, Kratos headed for the exit._ To think Yuan of all people is the leader of the Renegades. _he thought, closing his eyes. Kratos scoffed softly at himself, feeling of all things foolish. _It's no wonder why Yuan could not find out who 'the leader' was. I-_

_**Kratos?**_

_Ah, Lloyd._ Kratos replied, slightly startled out of his thoughts. He crossed his arms over his chest. _I'm glad to see you can control the level of your voice now._

_**Hey, I couldn't help it. I was annoyed because I've been trying to find you. How do you use these things?**_

_I see, so your wings have grown in. That is something to note when I get the chance._ he said, making a mental note for later. _At any rate, we need to meet face-to-face, and as soon as possible. I'll instruct you how to use them so you can get to me. We need to talk.

* * *

**Sage:** Fufufu... Bet people thought I'd never update. (Sorry, I couldn't wait anymore. _D:_)  
**Genis:** Gee, it's only been a month since you started work on this.  
**Me:** Watch it, brat. I've been busy. Anyway, I don't own ToS, despite you all knowing this, because I still have to disclaim it. _D: _Anything else? *thinks* Oh yes. Depending on certain circumstances, this may be subject to change, and any change will be noted in this chapter and the next one. _D:_ Review Please._


	4. Crushing Blow

**Switch**

**Chapter 3: Crushing Blow**

Kratos sighed as he leaned against the windowsill in the inn. He was already tired of Lloyd's friends hanging around him, always thinking he was going to do this or that. Something that he obviously knew was not going to work. He told them he would secure the inn while they retrieved supplies, just to get away from them. He somehow wondered how Lloyd could even stand them for so long.

His problems had merely grown, though. He had been watching Colette the past few days. As they hurried to Ozette, he found her to be a little too clingy for his tastes. While he knew she did not know better, Kratos was bent on nipping this problem in the butt before it became too big. He sighed. He knew it would probably hurt her, but it was for the best. He did not need someone clinging to him, mistaking him for someone else.

Kratos rubbed his forehead. Then there was the problem with Presea. As soon as they entered the village, she took off. Of course, they followed her – all through the village. Had that not been enough, they ran into Rodyle. Kratos had to refrain from calling him out, unless he wished to expose himself. So he bit his lip. Now it appeared certain that Rodyle was planning something around Presea. And when they tried to get her to head to Altessa, she would not budge… It only irritated Kratos even more.

On top of all of that, he had to act as leader of the group. He grunted. Since when did he ask to be leader? Last he recall, he never even asked for it. Who were they to give him that position? The only thing they gave him was a headache.

Kratos leaned against the bedpost. He wished Lloyd would hurry up. He did not want to be in the inn when the group came back. Well, their names were in the guest registry; that was good enough. He could just leave a note with the innkeeper. Taking a piece from Lloyd's notebook, he wrote his message and folded it up. He hid Lloyd's stuff under the bed and walked out of the room. "Excuse me?" he said, walking up to the counter.

The innkeeper turned around, returning to the counter. "Yes? What do you need?"

"I have friends that should be arriving shortly. There will be a young girl with blonde hair and white clothes. Would you give this to her, please?" he said, placing the note on the desk. "I have to go out for a bit and cannot wait for them any longer."

"Of course, sir."

"And please make sure that she is the one to receive it. I'm sure that a woman with me that might try to read it, and I do not want her to." Kratos said, turning to leave.

"Of course, sir."

_With that done…_ Kratos turned his head toward the shop above him. He could see they were still inside. Good. He walked down the road until he came to a ledge, a sturdy root running to the lower part of the village. He still had a little time before he would meet with Colette, but without knowing when they would leave the store, he had to be quick.

He looked around, hoping to find a place to talk. Sure, Presea's house sat alone, but he was not sure if people at least walked by it. Despite knowing the locals tried to avoid Presea, he could not take the risk. And the trees were too much of a cover; she could easily miss him. He looked up and smirked. The roof would do. He looked around to make sure that no one was around before he flew onto the roof. He lay back, folding his hands behind his head.

He sighed. How was he going to do this? He knew he could not beat around the bush; the Chosen was… thick-headed, at best. But he could not simply blurt it out; she was only an innocent girl. Maybe he should see what she knew first…

"Lloyd?" Kratos spotted Colette walking down the root and hugging close to Presea's house.

He closed an eye, a light smirk on his face. "Up here!" he said, leaning over a bit to make sure he was spotted. Colette gasped and looked up, smiling. Kratos returned to his relaxed position as Colette floated up toward him, landing nearby. "I'm glad you could make it. Lay down, it's a relaxing view."

"Okay!" she said, walking around Kratos to lie down beside him. She turned toward Kratos, frowning instantly. "Is something wrong, Lloyd? You wanted to meet out here, and I was getting worried…" she said, folding her arms over her chest. She scooted closer to Kratos.

Kratos looked down, biting his lip. "Do I seem… different to you?" Kratos had to hand it to himself; he still had it.

Colette looked at him with an open mouth, tilting her head slightly. Apparently asking such a question was odd. "Different? What do you mean?" she said, lifting herself to get closer to Kratos. She looked at his face, irritating him slightly. She gasped lightly. "Oh, I know! Your hair is longer!"

Kratos almost groaned. Why must she be this thick-headed? "No, I don't think it's my hair, though it could have gotten longer…" he said, grabbing a part of his bangs and pulling on it.

"No? Hmm…" she said, looking back at him once more. "Oh, I know now!" Kratos almost smiled, but he had to keep up the charade. Colette smiled, closing her eyes. "Your voice is changing!"

Kratos felt like knocking her out, but he refrained from doing so. He clutched his fist weakly, hoping to calm himself. "No, I don't think it's that, either…" he said, closing his eyes as he ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know what it is, but I know I feel… different." he said with a sigh; he closed his eyes. He was getting nowhere with her. She obviously did not know. "Wait, I think I know." he said, staring at her with slightly narrowed eyes.

Colette gasped, eyes widening. "Really? What is it?" she said, placing her hand onto his forehead. "Are you warm? You aren't getting sick, are you? Oh no!" she said, pulling her hand back. "It is warm! Should I get the Professor?"

Kratos sighed. Her naivety truly was irritating, and he no longer had the patience to deal with it. He shook his head. "No, Chosen, it's that I'm not Lloyd." he stared directly at her, watching as her eyes widened. He saw her start to shake, her mouth quivering. She was too stricken with fear to move. Kratos grunted softly. So much for taking that lightly... "I figured a change in my dialogue would cause this reaction… But you would not have figured it out otherwise." he sighed heavily, hand running through his hair. He stood, taking a step. "Relax, Chosen-"

"S-Stay back!" Colette shouted, her hands covering her mouth. She was horrified. She was completely shaken. How long was this imposter with them? The mere thought of it terrified her. And he even called her 'Chosen'! Did that mean something about who the imposter was? "W-What have you done with Lloyd? Why are you controlling him?"

Kratos put his hand onto his forehead, sliding it down his face. "I'm not controlling him, nor am I here to take you." He took another step forward.

"N-No!" Her eyes were glued to the imposter, the numbing of her whole body consuming her. She tried to move her leg. She was mentally screaming, yelling at herself to get away. But she found that she just could not move, for reasons beyond her. She could only sit and wait while the imposter drew closer to her. She feared the worst.

Kratos stood in front of her, his face leaning close to hers. He could see the fear in her eyes, the uncontrollable fear that rendered her immobile. He figured it must be hard, knowing that the face of her friend was actually the face of her foe. He had better be careful; pending on what he did, he might cause her to faint. "Chosen…" he paused, listening to his voice. He winced lightly; he just noticed a slight similarity to Lloyd's voice. Hearing the word come out of his mouth sounded… off. It was eerie. He watched as her face flinched dramatically. She closed her eyes in terror. "Chosen, I am not going to do anything to you." he paused for a moment, letting the phrase sink in. "Now then, are you going to listen to me?"

Colette sat there silently, a chill running down her spine. She was not going to be taken? Why? She still felt herself shaking, not wanting to trust the imposter. "W-Who are you then?"

"Kratos." he said simply, blinking. He watched as she gasped, eyes widening. He closed his eyes. "If you do not mind, Chosen, I would prefer that you stop staring at me with that puzzled expression on your face…" she remained silent, still staring at him. "What is on your mind, now, Chosen…?"

She remained quiet, hand now planted onto the roof. She did not know whether she should move or not, or whether she could at all. Several minutes past and she had not said a word; she simply could not. Every time she looked into Kratos' face, she saw Lloyd staring back at her; except it was not Lloyd, but Kratos. And that terrified her. "K-Kratos…?" she heard her voice say, her lips quivering. She looked at her arms, finding them to be shaking as well.

Kratos looked at her, tilting his head. His narrowed eyes had not relaxed in the slightest. "Yes?" What, did she not believe it was him?

Colette winced, feeling her body shake in fear. He was irritated, and she knew why… "W-W-Why… do you…" she paused, finding she could not finish her sentence. Her eyes remained fixed on Kratos' face as it twisted in annoyance; she watched each movement. She knew it was not Lloyd, she knew it was not… But the face proved otherwise. It was almost as if Lloyd had completely changed. Like something happened and he was no longer the Lloyd she knew. And she wanted to cry. She covered her face into her hands, feeling her eyes water. But then she heard Kratos humph loudly and she jumped, her hands flinging away from her face. She was once again exposed to Lloyd's- Kratos' angered face.

"I do not know why I look and sound similar to Lloyd." he said, closing his eyes. "I merely remember being hit by some object while in contact with Lloyd and then this." he said, looking down at himself. He returned his gaze back to Colette, who appeared to be calming down through conversation. He was unsure, though, as her eyes began to water again. "Regardless, I am not going to be doing anything when I look like this."

Colette watched as Kratos handed his hand to her. She gasped, looking up at him. "Were I to do anything now, I would make it seem that Lloyd joined Cruxis, which is something that I would like to avoid." Colette locked her hands together, looking at them. Her eyes shifted back to Kratos. Kratos sighed. "Still don't believe me, I see. Well, do what you will. But I am doing exactly what I said. I merely did not want you to think I am Lloyd and continue to cling to me. Especially when it is the real Lloyd you want." he said, folding her arms across his chest. "And now my job is complete."

Colette looked down. "S-So you knew?"

"Of course. You made it too painfully obvious to ignore." he said, narrowing his eyes. "I did not want to deal with you all over me. Thus, I wanted to take care of this problem before it went beyond my control." he offered his hand once more. "Now come, we have been up here for far too long."

Colette stared at the hand again and then looked back down at the roof. She knew that Kratos wanted her to become Martel; how could she trust him? "I-I… I would like it if you promise not to capture me… Please…?"

Kratos planted his hand onto his face. "Chosen, did you not hear me before?" he said, sliding his hand down his face. "Fine then, I promise that as long as I look like Lloyd, I will not take you anywhere through means of captivity. Will that do?"

She nodded her head weakly. Slowly, she hesitantly took his hand, feeling herself being lifted onto her feet. She tilted over to the right, losing her balance and almost falling off of the roof. She had not realized how immobile she was. Kratos rolled his eyes, grabbing her arm. "T-Thanks…"

Kratos ignored her. "Now let us meet with Lloyd. He will be arriving soon." He saw Colette's stunned face. "Do you earnestly believe that I would let you not see what has become of Lloyd? Now then, do you want to float down or jump?"

"O-Oh…" she said with a gasp, her hand going over her mouth. "I'll just… float down… I'm… still a bit wobbly…" she said, looking away from Kratos. It was bad enough Kratos looked exactly like Lloyd, but what about Lloyd looking like Kratos? How would she feel about that? "K-Kratos?"

Kratos looked back at her. "Hmm?"

"Does Lloyd look like… like you?" she said, trying to look away, but eyes always falling upon him. She decided to close her eyes; it would help her concentrate in unfurling her wings, anyway.

Kratos grunted loudly. "Of course he does. It is probably from his contact with me when I was hit. As it had influenced my appearance, it had influenced his." he said, jumping down from the roof. He rolled forward, not wanting to fracture his legs, or worse. He got off the ground, watching Colette lower herself gently onto the ground. _Oh, I suppose I did forget something…_ "Colette."

Colette flinched. How stern Kratos' voice sounded, and how eerily hearing it in Lloyd's… She looked at his face to find his stoic expression on his face. She nearly gaped. "Y-Yes…?"

"While you know that I am not Lloyd, I would prefer that you would address me as such when not in private." he said, staring off toward the inn. "I would prefer it if your friends did not know about what happened at this current time. It would… complicate things. Of course," he said, turning back to her, an eyebrow lowered, "if you care about Lloyd as much as I believe you do, you will. Otherwise, things that could have been prevented would occur needlessly."

She tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean? What could happen?" She was getting a bit concerned now. What would happen to Lloyd? "Please, tell me! What would happen to Lloyd?"

"Several things could happen, Chosen," he said in irritation, now wishing he had kept that quiet, "so there is no point in worrying too much about it. As long as you address me as Lloyd, everything will be fine." he said, walking up the root. "Now come, we are keeping Lloyd."

Colette silently followed.

* * *

Lloyd stood outside of the village, not wanting to risk being seen by the group. He did not know what he would do if there was a confrontation… He tapped his foot, wondering how long Kratos was going to be. He sighed; knowing him, he probably could not leave the group because the Professor ordered him to bed. Perhaps he should contact him…

He sighed; turning around; he half wondered what he should do now. He thought about getting some more practice with this sword and shield style of fighting, because heaven knew he needed it. _Then again, I've only been waiting for half an hour. I think…_ he thought, turning his head back to the village. _Maybe I should wait a bit longer…_ He lowered his head, shaking it. What was he going to do now?

Well, there were some monsters around the village. If one of them came close, he would try and kill it. No, not try… Will kill it; it did not matter if he was not fully adjusted. He had to protect the villagers if he had to. He-

"L…Lloyd?"

Lloyd flinched, slowly turning around. He felt his eyes widen in horror as his mind registered the stunned voice. His mouth dropped as he started at a quivering Colette, tears streaming down her face. Her eyes were as wide as his own, her hand to her mouth. Lloyd gasped several times, mouth opening and closing. He nearly choked on his words. "C-Colette…? Wh-What… are you...?" he felt her arms wrap around him and looked down. She appeared… so much smaller now… He closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around her. "Colette..."

Colette continued to cry, trying to reach around his back. She did not want to let go. "L-Lloyd… It's… really you…" she said, a light smile on her face. "I cannot believe it…"

"Colette, why… are you here? How did you know…?" he said, when he noticed Kratos standing a few feet away, arms folded across his chest. His eyes were closed, his stoic expression on his face. Lloyd gasped weakly, eyes shaking. It was like staring at a completely different version of himself...

Kratos grunted lightly. "Lloyd, I would prefer it if we could discuss on why you caused me a problem with your friends."

Lloyd stared back at him, mouth open. "A-Alright, but… what's… Colette doing here? Why is she-?"

"I told her." Kratos said simply. "It was an unfortunate necessity, but it had to be done."

"What?!" Lloyd shouted, moving Colette to his side, an arm wrapped completely around her. "Why would you do that?!"

"Why not look at your side?" Lloyd gasped lightly, looking down at his side. He found Colette wrapped around him, her face pressing against his side. When had he even moved her to his side? He vaguely recalled it. But thinking about that now, he wondered if she was ever going to let go, by the looks of how scared she was. "Now picture that on me. She would have been mistaking me for you this entire time, going after me instead of you. So instead of letting her blindly assume that I was you, I ended that notion before it became unstoppable."

Lloyd could not react; he did not know how. He was mad that Kratos told her, yet at the same time, understood why he did it. He looked down at Colette. She would not have known about the incident, and she would love him, yet not at the same time… Perhaps that would have been worse than not telling her. He picked her up into his arms, holding her close to his chest. "Colette… Are you alright?"

She looked up to his face, a weak smile appearing. She buried her face into his chest as a tear ran down her eye. "I… I am… now. L-Lloyd… I'm so glad… you did not change…" she said, cuddling up on his chest. She looked up to his face. "Lloyd… you do look like… Kratos."

Lloyd gasped weakly, blushing. He looked down. "I… I know. I even sound like him. It's… startling." he said, looking back at Kratos. "Anyway, I suppose we should talk real fast before you guys get in trouble with the Professor."

Kratos sighed, hand on his forehead. "That would be nice. Now then, have they grown in?"

"Check for yourself." Lloyd said, unfurling his wings. He watched as Colette gasped, and lightly gasped with her; he forgot she was still with them. "Yeah… I have wings now. It's thanks to Kratos' Cruxis Crystal." he said, shifting Colette a bit so she might see the Cruxis Crystal. "I have to wear his exsphere so that I can pull off being him for a while."

So that was what Kratos meant. While Kratos was pretending to be Lloyd, Lloyd was pretending to be Kratos... Colette was stunned. "But that's…"

"Dangerous, I know." he said, putting her onto her feet. He rubbed the back of his head. "But there's nothing I can do about it. I can't follow you guys when I look like this." he said, looking toward the Tower of Salvation. "And with that Yggdrasill not knowing about this, things would turn bad."

"Indeed, but do not forget, it could have been Yggdrasill who did this to us." Kratos said, walking up to him. "However, I have doubts that it was him. Regardless, we cannot rule him out. Besides," he said, staring at Colette, "this way, we have a way of getting resources from Cruxis if we need it. But for now, I am at some ease that you have your wings. That means I can start teaching you some things that you will need to know."

Of course, he was lying. He was not happy that Lloyd received his wings. In fact, he would prefer if Lloyd had not received them at all, or at least if Lloyd wanted to. Here, Lloyd had no choice, and that irked him. But there was nothing he could do. Perhaps this too, was written by Fate.

Lloyd was shocked. What else would he have to learn how to do? What more was there? "You have to learn to use the angelic warp, for starters, remember?" Lloyd looked at Kratos, an eyebrow raised. "It was easy to tell what you were going to say. It was written on your face; thus I have now told you."

"Oh. Yeah. I guess I forgot…" Lloyd said with a sigh; he would really have to stop doing that…

"For now, though, Colette and I must get back to the inn, or else Raine will irritate me once more. The next time we meet up, which will probably be tomorrow night, I will start training you." he said, walking back toward the village. "Chosen, it would be wise if you followed, though I suppose you may have your goodbyes and whatnot. I shall be waiting in the plaza." he said, walking into the village.

Lloyd stared quietly at Colette, a blush growing on his face. "He's right, you should be getting back." he said, running his hand through his hair. "And don't worry about me. I'll be around, following you guys."

"I know." Colette said, hugging him tightly. "Don't worry, Lloyd, we will find out what happened to you and get you back to normal…" she said, trying to reach up to his cheek. She giggled weakly, finding that she was just a little too short. "Lloyd? Could you…?" she said, blushing.

"Huh? Oh…" he said, chuckling weakly. He lowered himself to her level, allowing her to kiss his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow night, maybe?"

"Definitely." she said, turning back toward the village. "Good night…" It still felt strange for her. To think that Lloyd was so much older now or at least appeared to be… That would take some getting used to.

But that was something she was willing to work on.

* * *

Well, now, this is certainly a surprise, yes? Well, I finally updated after a while. I don't think I'll be in this groove again for a while, so enjoy it. Review if you want.


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